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Friday Wrap-Up – Beer News from Picaroons, Quidi Vidi, Pump House, Shiretown, Big Spruce, Beerthief and more!

Posted by acbbshawn on 2013-12-06
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Beerthief, Big Spruce Brewing, Hell Bay Brewing, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Pump House Brewery, Quidi Vidi Brewery, Rogues Roost Brewpub, Shiretown Beer, Stillwell Beer Bar. 2 comments

Howdy, craft beer fans! What’s going on in the world of good beer in the Atlantic provinces this week?

• Next Thursday, December 12th, Picaroons will begin their 3rd annual “12 Beers of Christmas”. Every day at 3 pm, until December 23rd, a new one-off Christmas beer will be released for growler fills only at the Brewtique in downtown Fredericton. Picaroons will announce through Twitter and Facebook every day at noon which beer will be released that day; this has been a very popular event the last couple of years, so be sure to get to the Brewtique quickly, as the beers usually sell out within hours. For those of you familiar with this over the past couple of years, you can expect to see most of your favorites returning, along with two to three new experimental Christmas beers!

• In more Picaroons news, their gala for the New Brunswick Home-Brew Challenge (co-sponsored by the New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association) was held Sunday. Twenty-six brewers submitted 42 entries in the Standard/Ordinary Bitter category. The best beer, judged by Picaroons Brewmaster Andrew Estabrooks and Doug and Shane of the King Street Ale House, was brewed by Joe Goodine of Moncton. In addition to a year’s free membership into the NBCBA (which allows taking part in their group buys and access to their yeast library, among other perks), Joe has also won the opportunity to brew a batch of his beer with Estabrooks on the Picaroons system at their Brewtique on Queen Street. This will be happening early in the new year, and will be released shortly thereafter. Some notes from the gala, thanks to NBCBA president Chris Craig: Over fifty people were in attendance to witness the announcement and taste the top beer (and got to judge the beers themselves for the Fan Favourite). Estabrooks mentioned that he had chosen this style of beer because it is difficult to hide mistakes, as a good Bitter has low hop and alcohol character. This resulted in some excellent, but similar, beers to judge between. For this reason, six beers actually advanced to the final (up from the five they had originally planned on). The folks at Picaroons devoted a significant amount of time to the competition, as well as almost all of the prizes and swag given away (including limited-edition growlers, towel and glass to all entrants, complemented by NBCBA glass and voucher for reduced membership fees). The NBCBA was thrilled with the response and the event in general, and excited to work with Picaroons and other breweries in the future, whether it be more competitions, or collaborations. Congratulations to everyone involved from the ACBB!

• Over in Newfoundland, Quidi Vidi Brewing will soon be releasing their QV Winter Ale. Described by the brewery as a “dark, rich ale; smooth and malty with just enough bitterness to balance it out”, it comes in at 6% ABV, and is brewed with coriander, cacao and vanilla. Expect to see the beer at NLC stores shortly before Christmas.

• In other Winter Ale news, Pump House Brewery now has their newest beer, the Nor’easter Beater Winter Warmer, on tap at their brewpub in Moncton. We know that the beer clocks in at 7% ABV, but other details are scarce. If it’s similar to other Winter Warmers, expect the beer to be malty and rich, with little to no hop presence, and a bit of alcohol warmth.

• Shiretown is adding their second beer to their bottled line-up. We first mentioned Siren’s T’Ale – a “bittersweet Red Ale” with 30 IBUs and 5% ABV – early last month; the beer is being released to various ANBL stores today. Check the Products page of the ANBL website to see which stores near you are carrying the beer!

• Rogues Roost Brewpub in Halifax held their first “Brewmaster Monday” this week. It is a chance to meet and chat with Brewmaster Lorne Romano, and sample what he is cooking up in the brewhouse. It was very successful, and the next event will be held January 13th. Contact them for more details closer to the date. We also received word that their tasty Russian Imperial Stout is currently conditioning in their brite tank, and will be released mid-month. We’ll have more details for you next week.

• Today is the judging of the Big Spruce Homebrew Competition, in advance of their appearance at the Local Connections Craft Beer and Local Food Celebration (a few tickets are still available!). The 17 American IPA entries will be judged by nine BJCP judges, and the winning brewer will work with Brewmaster Jeremy White to scale up their beer to a full batch, which will be released in the New Year, and a cask of it will be served at the January 16th event. Good luck to all entrants!

• Unfortunately, Big Spruce ran into some bad luck this week, but have a heck of a story from it. Probably due to the high winds and rain/sleet, the brewery was without power for two days while they were in the middle of mashing their Kitchen Party Pale Ale. Rather than give up, they kept at it (sparged the mash by hand, bucket by bucket!), and once the power did come back, were able to finally get the beer happy. To make it a truly different batch of beer, Jeremy tweaked the recipe, adding chocolate and roast malt, as well as upping the hopping rate like mad. It’ll be a totally different beer, and we’re excited to try it in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, check out their Facebook page to offer suggestions for the name of this unique brew.

• Halifax’s Stillwell Beer Bar will be holding a special event this Monday, “Tripel Trouble”. Featuring several Quebec-brewed Tripels (Charlevoix‘s Dominus Vobiscum Lupulus, Dieu Du Ciel!‘s Herbe a Detourne, Unibroue‘s La Fin du Monde and Le Trou du Diable‘s La Buteuse and P’tite Buteuse), on tap for the first time in Nova Scotia. The tap list will be rounded out by Maritime-brewed Belgian-style beers, and chef Graeme Ruppel will be whipping up some great Belgian snacks for the evening. The event starts at 4pm, and runs all evening. Be sure to drop by, as they will also be releasing details and tickets for their New Year’s Eve event.

• Hell Bay Brewing posted some interesting news yesterday: their iconic mine logo will be featured in an upcoming Kevin Smith movie, Tusk. Owner Mark Baillie shared some more details with us: the film features a scene in a bar, and the Hell Bay logo will be seen on glasses, tap handles, bottles, etc. The producers of the film sought out Baillie after discovering the Hell Bay logo. Very cool!

• The Beerthief is at it again! The latest offering from the Newfoundland Artisanal and Craft Beer group is beer from Meduz Brewery in the South of France. They are brewing French beer, with a Belgian twist. The beers available are an Amber, Blanche/Witbier, Blonde, Doree/Golden, and Hiver/Winter beer. The deadline to order is Sunday, Dec 8th. As usual, contact Tom Beckett to order the beer, which is expected to hit the NLC shelves in February 2014. Sunday is also the deadline to order some of the Beerthief-branded glassware, a few more details are available here.

Thanks for checking in… have a great weekend, everyone!

Friday Wrap-Up – Brasseurs du Petit-Sault Posts Brewer Job Listing, New Beers from Hell Bay, Pump House, Quidi Vidi, Big Spruce, and Paddys Irish Brewpub

Posted by acbbshawn on 2013-11-22
Posted in: Friday Wrap-Up. Tagged: Beerthief, Big Spruce Brewing, Brasseurs du Petit Sault, Fredericton Craft Beer Festival, Hell Bay Brewing, Paddys Irish Brewpub, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Pump House Brewery, Quidi Vidi Brewery. 4 comments

Happy Friday! What better way to warm up the end of your week (after all this cool weather) than with some beer news?

• As we mentioned in our post on Wednesday, the members of the Board of Directors at Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault (the new Belgian-style brewery opening in Edmundston, NB next year) are looking to hire two brewers. They just posted the official job listing here; looks like it is for a start date of around March 1st, 2014. Check it out/pass it along if you’re interested; the deadline for résumés is December 22nd.

• Picaroons is introducing a new type of growler for fills of their on-tap beers at the Brewtique in downtown Fredericton. An unbreakable, food-grade stainless steel Hydroflask, it keeps beer cold for many hours! It still holds the same amount of beer (1.89 L) as the old growlers, and can be brought back to the Brewtique for refills, of course. Each growler costs $50 to purchase; they’re available now at the Brewtique.

• Next Friday, November 29th, tickets for the 2014 Fredericton Craft Beer Festival will go on sale. With already more breweries and beers (with heavy emphasis on New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) than last year’s festival, it’s sure to be a great event! Like last year, tickets are $50 for regular admission, and $60 for VIP (which gets you entry into the festival an hour earlier). The festival will be held at the Fredericton Convention Centre on Saturday, March 8th. We’ll be posting more details on the breweries/beers offered in the future!

• The Beerthief Newfoundland and Labrador’s Artisanal and Craft Beer Club has partnered with a local manufacturer to offer etched glassware with their logo. At $8.50, one can choose a mug, pilsner, stemmed or tall “bar” glass. Contact Mike Buhler to order these.

• Hell Bay Brewing has released a special one-off beer, “Latzenbier”. This German Altbier is full-bodied with slight toffee/malt sweetness, and roasted aromas, and bittered with German hops. It weighs in a 5.5% ABV and 45 IBUs, and is only available in growlers at the brewery in Liverpool. Hell Bay has been sending more of their beer to bars and restaurants in the HRM, so if you don’t see it on tap at your favourite watering hole, be sure to request it!

• The Pump House Brewery is releasing a new lager – Premium Pilsner is listed as a German-style Pilsner brewed with Saaz hops. Clocking in at 5.7% ABV with 30 IBUs, Pump House describes the beer as very pale straw-colored; the beer is unfiltered, so some haziness will be present. With a flowery, slightly spicy and grassy aroma from the Saaz hops, the beer finishes very dry with a moderate bitterness. It will first be available in gift-box form, in 750 mL swing-top bottles. We haven’t received confirmation as to when the beer will be available, but it should be very soon.

• Quidi Vidi Brewing has re-released their Mummer’s Brew, just in time for the holiday season. An “Amber Ale” with an ABV of 6%, it’s described as being “full of caramel malt flavors and aromas”. Only a small amount has been brewed, and it’s only available at the brewery and NLC stores. Once it’s gone, it won’t be back until next year, so don’t wait to pick some up!

• Big Spruce Brewing now has their Left Breton Organic Conspiracy Imperial IPA available at the brewery. This is the beer that saw BC’s Crannóg Ale brewers visit the brewery, bringing with them hops from Left Fields farm in Sorrento, BC (to complement the hops grown at Big Spruce’s Breton Fields hop farm). All of the hops used in the beer were grown organically on these two fields: Galena for bittering, along with tons of Centennial and Cascade at the end of the boil, and dry-hopped with Cascade and Willamette. The final stats on this beer are 7.4%ABV and 81 IBUs. Pick some up now at the brewery (it won’t last long); it should also be available at the Cape Breton Farmers’ Market in Sydney this weekend (along with some spent-grain granola). It may also be available at one exclusive tap in the province soon, keep your eyes open on their Facebook and Twitter feeds for that launch information. In addition to the Glenora-infused cask that Big Spruce had at the LBL Cask Fest, we were lucky enough to try the Bowmore 12-year-infused cask at Stillwell in Halifax. It’s gone now, but is another great indication of things brewing on Cape Breton.

• Paddys Irish Brewpub has brewed up their newest eagerly-anticipated seasonal beer,  “Frost Biter” Winter Warmer. It has a chestnut colour, bolder body with notes of holiday chocolate, subdued bitterness at 10 IBUs, and a pleasant warming due to the slightly higher 6% Abv. Available at either their Kentville or Wolfville location on tap and in 2 liter Growlers in early December.

• Fans of Garrison‘s Spruce Beer, rejoice! The gang is at Meander River Farms today, collecting spruce tips and branches for their popular seasonal. This means the beer will be hitting shelves within a few weeks. Check back here for details, and their Facebook page for pictures of today’s hunt.

• Field Guide, a great new restaurant on Halifax’s Gottingen Street has opened this past week. We went by for a great visit Wednesday, and will have a profile on them next week. They want to highlight the importance of the kitchen to the dining experience (you can watch the entire process of food preparation, from stove to plate and even the dish pit where the plate is cleaned after), and are passionate about local and seasonal food. Needless to say, they are big fans of local craft beer, and will be carrying NS beer exclusively.

That’s it for this week… enjoy your weekend!

Full Details on Ladies Beer League Cask Beer Event at The Stubborn Goat Gastropub, November 17th

Posted by acbbchris on 2013-11-06
Posted in: Beer Events. Tagged: Big Spruce Brewing, Boxing Rock Brewing, Bridge Brewing, Garrison Brewing, Hell Bay Brewing, Ladies Beer League, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Propeller Brewing, Stubborn Goat. 3 comments

LBL Cask Beer Fest

On Sunday, November 17th, the Ladies Beer League will be hosting a Cask Beer Event at The Stubborn Goat in Halifax. Consisting of afternoon (1-4pm) and evening (5-8pm) sessions, attendees will be able to sample special one-off casks from seven Maritime breweries, while chatting with the brewers and plenty of local beer fans.

An overview of the event can be found on the Facebook page, but we reached out to Tracy and Pam of the LBL with a few questions on this exciting event, to go into more detail:

ACBB: Why choose cask-conditioned beer as a focus? What are the interesting characteristics that drew the group to it?

Tracy:  Well, great question! The LBL knew that we wanted to help foster Cask Beer in Nova Scotia (like in other Canadian provinces, where it has taken off), but first we realized that if we were to play an important role, we needed to do two things: 1) Help Craft Beer drinkers understand & appreciate Cask-conditioned beer, and 2) Encourage breweries to produce beer in this way. Of course, established breweries Garrison, Propeller, and Picaroons have been dabbling in Cask for years, Kevin Keefe at Granite Brewery is the Cask God Father, and Greg Nash creates Cask-conditioned ales at Rockbottom weekly. However, for the newer brewers in Nova Scotia, we knew that if we helped create the market demand, they’d be super keen to experiment. Also, now that we have craft beer bars like The Stubborn Goat & Bar StillWell, there will be licensees willing to buy, promote, & dispense their casks. Now is the time! This particular event really got going after the Stubborn Goat reached out to us, and wanted to plan an event together. From the beginning, they were very intrigued by cask-conditioned ale, so it seemed like the perfect venue to plan our most ambitious event yet. We’re thrilled to be the first public event at The Goat, and help develop their customer base of cask-beer lovers!

 

ACBB: How were the breweries selected to take part in the event?

Tracy: This was really easy – Part of our agreement with The Goat was that we would only approach craft breweries that the gastropub had already developed a relationship. Luckily for us, all 7 breweries we approached were super keen! Unfortunately, this left out a few great new/old breweries in NS, but we hope in upcoming months we can organize events with breweries who were not involved in Cask Fest.

Pam: The breweries we partner with for our events are currently limited to accounts the venue is already dealing with under their liquor license. We chose the Stubborn Goat for our Cask Fest with this in mind, as they are working to make a larger variety of local microbrews available under one roof.

 

ACBB: Did you give the breweries any guidelines for what to send, or how to prepare/treat the beer?

Tracy: As I mentioned earlier, some breweries had expertise making casks & others were completely new to the concept. We wanted to give the breweries the space to learn & experiment without limitations. That being said, there is an assumption that breweries will comply with the general practices of making casks in North America. That is, fermenting the beer to a designated level, then cask-conditioning a specific volume in a stainless steel vessel by adding fermentable primer, yeast and additional wacky ingredients. Secondary fermentation results in a smooth, unique and naturally carbonated-ale that is sooooo easy to drink when dispensed directly from the cask. I understand this is not how Real Ale is necessarily brewed in the UK, but this is the technique that is generally practiced at comparable breweries across Canada & the USA.

On that note, the industry came together to make this event a reality. Kellye Robertson (Ladies Beer League Member) provided guidance to Emily Tipton at Boxing Rock, Greg Nash lent cask & supplies to Bridge so they could participate. Mike Grieg from Garrison will be on hand to help tap the casks on the 17th. It’s really neat to see.

Pam: We gave the breweries full creative control in the making of their casks. Knowing that given the time of year, they would naturally be in the throws of crafting some of their more unique one-offs and seasonals, we didn’t feel the need to set any guidelines. We are thrilled with the selection of brews they are bringing to the table.

 

ACBB: I believe your previous events were women-only. Why have you opened this event up to all genders?

Tracy: After we realized that this was going to involve 7 breweries and be Halifax’s first Cask Beer fest, we knew we could not exclude the guys. It’s too great of an event! The LBL’s mandate is to even-the-playing field, introduce women to craft beer AND hopefully have future beer events consist of 50% men and 50% women. Over the past few months we have held 6 sold-out events for women who are now craft beer converts, and many LBL members are thrilled to bring the men in their lives to Cask Fest.

The Ladies Beer League has grown organically over the past several months, and if we start to take the role of “event organizer” for the local craft beer community, we will likely continue to host a handful of events for men & women… And, if we achieve our goal, these events will indeed be attended equally by men and women.

Pam: Given that this is the first Cask festival in Halifax open to public attendance, we felt it would be unfair to limit attendance to ladies only. That said, we’ve never stipulated that any of our events were specifically ‘ladies only’. If a man walked into one of our regular events, no doubt he’d have a lot of fun!

 

ACBB: Will the brewers (or someone from the breweries involved) be there, pouring their beer and able to chat with attendees?

Tracy: Most of the breweries will have either a brewer or marketing/sales rep on-site to talk about their beer. For a few, like Picaroons, it’s a little more difficult. In that case, LBL organizers or The Goat staff will step-up and help pour the casks. The only thing that worries me is the actual tapping of the casks… with 7 casks, at least a few are bound to go crazy. That’s part of the fun!

Pam: The breweries will be sending a representative, in most cases the brewer of the cask. A board member from the LBL will be around to pour and answer questions on behalf of any brewery should they be unable to do so.

 

ACBB: Can you explain the cask sampling itself? I understand attendees will be given a passport, in order to try each of the seven casks…

Tracy: This is the FUN part! After attendees have filled their passport, they have the opportunity to go back for an 8th sample glass and cast a vote for their favourite cask! The brewery who collects the most 8th samples will be named “Ladies Choice for 2013”.

Pam: Again, the 8th sample is a chance to ‘double-up’ on a brew you want to experience again. We plan to keep track of these last samples as a means of voting for a sort of people’s choice, giving the winning brewery a bit of bragging rights.

 

ACBB: Anything else to add?

Tracy: The day session is selling quickly, get your tickets now! LBLCaskFest.EventBrite.ca

Also, if you are curious about cask beer, OR you just really appreciate trying new styles of beer, this is the perfect event for you! Each cask will be something you’ve never experienced before. It’s also a really great opportunity to talk to the people who make your favourite craft beer & see Halifax’s new gastropub!

 

Thanks very much to Tracy and Pam for all of the great info, it’s going to be a great time!

 

We also reached out to the breweries for some details on the beer they’ll be pouring, and thoughts on the event, so you can begin salivating now:

Big Spruce Brewing will be serving their Cereal Killer Oatmeal Stout “Sideways”: infused with Glenora whisky and dry-hopped in the cask.

Boxing Rock: Emily Tipton, Founding Partner and Beer Engineer (I like the sound of that job!) tells us they will be serving a cask of their newest seasonal Crafty Jack English Ale, an English Brown Ale, and naturally primed in the cask. She will be there to pour the cask and chat with people. Their brewer’s assistant, Shelby Peters, will also be there. Emily says, “This beer is also our fall seasonal. We’re really looking forward to being part of this event, and to supporting the Ladies Beer League.  And we can’t wait to hang out at the Stubborn Goat!”

Bridge Brewing will be serving a Belgian Apricot IPA. Brewed with five different malts, three different hops, Blonde Belgian Candi sugar, and their own homemade apricot concentrate. It weighs in at 6.5%, 65 IBU, 7 SRM.

Garrison Brewing will be serving Cask-conditioned Winter Warmer. Brewmaster Daniel Girard is trying to reproduce his mom’s Raisin Pie with this year’s recipe of Winter Warmer. There are notes of orange, rosemary, rose hips and raisin that complement each other so well. Since this is already a very complex beer, he decided to not add additional ingredients. The priming agent for conditioning is rice sugar, to maintain a vegan product. Brewer Kellye Robertson will be pouring the beer.

Hell Bay Brewing will have their Dark Cream Ale fall seasonal pouring.*

Picaroons will have their new Smoked Porter at the Fest.*

Propeller will be serving a dry-hopped version of their IPA.*

*Unfortunately, we did not hear back from these breweries before today’s deadline, so are unable to provide more details.

Some final details on the fest: The event will be taking place on the upper floor of the Stubborn Goat, so their main floor will be open for plenty of post-Fest beer, and the kitchen will be open throughout to cure those grumbling tummies.

Breweries will be serving the same beer at both sessions, and to make sure both sessions will be able to sample, will be respecting a “one sample per cask per person” protocol (except for Ladies Choice).

Tickets are only available online (and I suspect will sell out today!), are priced at $38.09 (inc fee), and displaying your ticket from the Eventbrite app is sufficient for entry.